The Other Side And The Truth
by NeverGoesToSleep
Summary: "There are three sides to every story: The first side, the other side, and the truth. But sometimes, the other side and the truth may just be the same..."


***Hey, um...I don't really know how I came up with this idea, but I liked the idea, so I sort of ran with it. It's a little mini-project I guess, possibly a oneshot? I don't know that's really up to you guys I guess ;) Anyways, this basically takes place literally right after the third season ended. This particular chapter is all in Courtney's POV, and most of the future parts to it will be as well. Also, there's a tiny bit of Spanish speaking in this, and feel free correct me if I failed at it. Enjoy!***

I woke up and groggily tossed the sheets off my body. Jumping off my canopy bed, I examined my surroundings. I was finally back home after a fourteen hour flight, trip around the world, and a _heck_ of a lot of emotional rollercoasters. I looked down at myself to see that I hadn't even taken my shoes off last night before heading to bed. I brushed my hair quickly and then went to the task of unpacking. Throwing the huge backpack on my bed, I let the top flap limply droop down off the canvas. I then lifted the heavy bag and flipped it upside down, releasing the once neatly packed items all over the pink sheets of my bed.

"Ooh." I hissed. There was a lot of stuff to put away, and hardly any time to do it. First thing's first, put the big stuff away, you can worry about the details after that. It was a life philosophy that I had never really thought about trying, nor did I want to. In cases like this, though, it was the only way to go.

I grabbed all the clothes and put them were they needed to be, mainly the hamper. Then I went back to my bed and started to put the littler things away. After placing all of my cosmetics and toiletries right where I wanted them, the only items left turned out to be the other miscellaneous junk I had probably brought for no reason. I looked disappointedly at the pile until something in the corner caught my eye. My PDA! Sure, I wasn't technically supposed to bring it this season, but we all had contraband electronics with us. I pressed the power button and smiled as the little screen flashed to life. The usual brand and software logos blinked across the screen, only widening my smile with anticipation. My smile dropped a million miles, never to be heard from again, when I saw my main screen.

Instead of saying "Courtney" like the banner across the front usually did, it instead read "Gwen Was Here!" with little skulls surrounding it. And the picture? Ugh, don't even get me _started_ on that! I remembered the day it was taken so clearly. Our team had just lost in Newfoundland, and Gwen had taken the heat from Heather, even though it was _my_ fault we hadn't made it in time for the challenge.

_*FLASHBACK*_

We were all walking back to the plane on the foggy beach. I was watching our team wearily trudged through the sand, on their way to loser class with me. Something caught my eye quickly. Heather and Gwen were sticking close to the back of our gaggle like I was, except I was still further back than them. Heather was yelling at Gwen.

"And what made you think turning left while everyone else was going right would be a good idea? Just because you're 'not like everyone else' or whatever doesn't mean that you should-" I kind of zoned out after that. Heather's screaming was becoming too much for my delicately tuned ears to handle. Not even thinking about what I was doing, I reached out and grabbed Gwen's pale arm. Both girls stopped doing what they were doing and just stared at me.

"Uh-Uh, Gwen! I need to talk to you." I lied. I hope they wouldn't see through it.

"You do?" Gwen asked skeptically.

"Well, I'm kind of busy with her!" Heather snapped.

"Too bad!" I yelled. I got a better grip on the Goth girl's arm and effortlessly tossed the rest of her behind me. Heather and I glared at each other through the fog of the shore. She finally scoffed and pranced off like she was the greatest thing in the world. I scoffed back and continued walking. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gwen run up next to me.

"Hey. Uh, thanks for the save I guess." She said shyly.

"No problem." I said, smiling at her. I saw that there were no cameramen following us, so I pulled my PDA out of my pocket. It wasn't in my hands after about ten seconds.

"Oh, cool! You brought this?" Gwen said, staring in amazement at the electronic in her hand.

"Stickyfingers much?" I laughed. She laughed and held the back of the PDA out in front of us.

"Say 'Heather Sucks!'" She exclaimed. We laughed together as the little lens clicked.

_*END FLASHBACK*_

"Ugh!" I said disgustedly. I immediately went to settings to fix the type. I tried to press the 'delete' button, but I just couldn't. I don't know why, and I doubt I probably ever will, but it was upsetting me. "What's wrong with you? Just press the stupid button, Courtney!" I screamed to myself, but something my heart would just not allow my finger to press that button. Okay then, I'll fix it later, time to get rid of this picture! I went up and over to my photo folder, and tried to avoid the first three-hundred and sixty-one pictures that were all of Gwen and I to find something else in my photo gallery to change it to. I sorted through a few photos until I found one I was satisfied with, as it was a photo of when I single-handedly beat out two schools in the partners debate team debate. I pressed the photo and a message came on the screen.

"Are you sure you want to change your background?" With the options "Yes" and "No" underneath it. I couldn't help but hesitate. What am I doing? This shouldn't be that hard, really. She betrayed me! She betrayed everything I had ever trusted her with! She's...pretty funny, actually, and a good person to come to when you need advice on...NOTHING! When you need advice on nothing, because she's a horrible person. I sighed at my weakness and pressed "No."

"Whatever...there's good lighting in Newfoundland, I mean, look at myself, the sun was tinted just right..." I tried reasoning with myself, but a wave of rage came over me looking at that photo of us, and I tossed the phone at my wall with as much strength I could muster up. The device hit the bottom of the wall, cracking the paint right off the spot. It bounced back a bit and landed, battered and victimized on my beige carpet. I took a few deep breaths as I steadied myself on the corner of my bed. After doing that for a few moments, I heard my door creak open. Our housekeeper, an older, plump, Spanish woman poked her wrinkly face in.

"Are you okay, Nena?" She asked, using the life-long nickname she had given me.

"I'm okay, Rosa." I answered in between outraged pants. I watched her as she fully walked in the room. She placed the big, white laundry basket that she had been holding at her wide hip down near the door before plodding over to me. She placed a warm hand on my shoulder and made me look at her.

"You know I know you better than that." She said in her thick Spanish accent. I finally controlled my breathing and explained everything to her as smoothly and effortlessly as I had always explained things to her. It was just that easy between Rosa and I. She's really the only close family I had, even though she isn't blood. She's the one I could count on to always be there for me, listening, advising, and empathizing with my problems. She wasn't like my C.E.O. father, Mayor of the town mother, Stupid reality show host with a "Me" complex. She has a heart, and always takes the time out to listen to you.

"I had a friend on that show, Rosa, a really great friend. She was just like you, except for whole Goth thing," I began, lightly pulling on the sleeve of my housekeeper's pale yellow tunic top. She motioned for me to go on. "I really enjoyed being her friend. Oh, Gosh, she was the best of the best, a fighter, tough, and wouldn't back down."

"Like you, my love" She smiled.

"Except for the Goth thing." We said at the same time. We laughed lightly, and Rosa once again motioned for me to go on.

"Well, she betrayed me! She stole my boyfriend, Rosa!" I complained to her with anger. She laughed at me. I just sat there, stunned that she was actually doing this to me. I huffed and folded my arms over my chest, waiting for her little yuck-fest to end. She was still laughing as she lifted my chin to look at her.

"Was that her words, or your _interpretation_ of her words?" She asked me.

"_Tyler's_ words." She laughed a bit more.

"Nena, there are three sides to every story: One person's side, the other person's side, and then there's the truth." She advised me, placing her hands on my either of my knees. I knew what she was getting at.

"How would hearing her side do _me_ any good?" I asked irately.

"Well you didn't let me finish." She responded. I shut up and let her speak. "Sometimes, the other person's side and truth just may be the same thing." She whispered, trying to annunciate without her Spanish accent, but was failing at it. She wordlessly kissed the top of my head, picked up the laundry basket full of dishrags, and exited my room, softly shutting the door behind her. I looked around my suddenly emptier room and put my hand under my chin only to realize that I was crying. A lot. I pulled a tissue out of a travel package that was sitting on my bed with the million other useless things I had brought with me on that trip and held it on my face. I sat there like that for a while, just staring at the PDA I had probably destroyed out of anger.

I slowly slid off the corner of my bed and went over to pick up the silver box. I turned it around to see that there was no damage to anything but the screen, which had a long crack running down it, splitting up mine and Gwen's photo. I scoffed.

"How symbolic." I said as I rolled my eyes at the raw irony of this. Then, I don't know what came over me, but I started dialing the only number I had ever cared to memorize instead of my own. With every ring, my heart started beating a million times faster, until it stopped when there was finally an answer.

"Duncan, I'm telling you, it doesn't matter if there's no 'Private Property' sign, they can still have you arrested!" The voice over the phone called to whoever they were talking to, who was presumably walking away. "Uh...hello?" The gravelly voice on the other line then said into the phone. I froze. I had no idea what to say. "Hm, must've been a wrong number." she said after a long silence.

"No! No! I meant to call you...I think." I said, biting on my index finger unsurely.

"Courtney?" She asked in disbelief.

"Gwen, I want to talk..."

***So? Was it good? Bad? A Ninja? :O Haha, I'm loopy at this time of night ;) Anyways, I'd really like some reviews, in-depth and specific are my favorite kind, just so you know ;) So please review!***


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